The Open Group Establishes South American Office in Brazil

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New Office to Encourage South American Participation in Developing Open Standards for Enterprise Architecture, Cloud Computing and IT Security

SAN FRANCISCO, October 25, 2011 – The Open Group today announced it has extended its global reach to include its first office in South America. The Open Group’s new office in São Paulo, Brazil and presence in the region will allow IT professionals throughout South America to more easily participate in the consortium’s development of vendor-neutral IT open standards and certification programs. The Open Group’s new South American office and member network increase the organization’s footprint worldwide, with other local offices located in China, France, Japan, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Brazil has experienced some of the world’s largest growth over the past decade, tripling its economy to become the seventh largest in the world. Gartner projects Brazil’s IT end-user spending to reach $128 billion USD in 2013 [1]; and IDC predicts that Cloud Computing adoption in Brazil will grow by 60 percent between 2011 and 2013, with 80 percent of the country’s IT funds invested in implementing Cloud environments by 2015 [2].

“The establishment of The Open Group office in Brazil is indicative of the tremendous global demand we are seeing among emerging nations for internationally accepted IT standards and certification programs that advance strategic business objectives and interoperability,” said Allen Brown, president and CEO for The Open Group. “We hope easy access to the development of open standards, as well as an opportunity to actively shape them, will be invaluable to enterprises and IT professionals throughout the region.”

Brazil Country Manager Isabela Abreu will be tasked with growing membership throughout the region, encouraging engagement within The Open Group’s Forums and Work Groups, and raising awareness of certification programs, open standards, frameworks and disciplines such as enterprise architecture and information security. She will also be working to demonstrate to government officials and local IT executives the importance of establishing a strong IT infrastructure as Brazil’s economy and international influence grows.

“Brazil’s development is being driven not only by its burgeoning economy, but also by upcoming large-scale global events such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics that will be hosted by Brazil in 2014 and 2016, respectively,” Abreu said. “With events such as these, large scale IT systems will need to be built, and The Open Group’s guidance will ensure that IT standards and enterprise architectures will facilitate how Brazilian companies build their global IT infrastructures.”

About The Open Group

The Open Group is an international vendor- and technology-neutral consortium upon which organizations rely to lead the development of IT standards and certifications, and to provide them with access to key industry peers, suppliers and best practices. The Open Group provides guidance and an open environment in order to ensure interoperability and vendor neutrality. Further information on The Open Group can be found at http://www.opengroup.org.